


the varying definitions of home

by ignitesthestars



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Humor, M/M, Romance, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-05-07 14:11:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 6,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5459303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ignitesthestars/pseuds/ignitesthestars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of drabbles/shorts/prompt fics from tumblr, centred on our new trio. No particular continuity, therefore all kinds of stories. Fighters, friends, lovers, the Force has bought them together for a reason.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> rather than spam the fandom with a bunch of under 500 word shorts, i figured collecting them in one place would probably be for the best. i also have [a tumblr](http://ignitesthestars.tumblr.com/), where there will invariably be even more fic than makes it over here. 
> 
> i hope you enjoy <3 the prompt for this first one was: Rey and Finn dreaming about where they came from

Her memory begins at Jakku.

It’s not until Rey sees Takadana that she understands. Not until the water stretches out eternal before her, like the universe had known a place like Jakku existed and had crafted this planet specifically to counter it.

She remembers the desert and the dry. The scratch of metal on rust, day after day. She follows those thousands of marching lines down the path of her memory, and stops at the sound of her younger self screaming.

There is a Before Jakku. There has to be. She has spent most of her life in that wasteland, but it’s never been home. 

The trees bend and sway under a gentle wind. Rey braces for heat instinctively, for the grit of sand whipping her skin, but it brings only relief.

 _Home_. She tests the word silently. It echoes, hollow. She has nothing to fill it with.

* * *

Finn knows he has a family.

He knows it in the same way he knows his designation, knows how to care for his armour, knows how to fire a blaster. He’s been trained to it, the same way all Stormtroopers are. He has a family, who he was taken from, to serve the First Order, because he is a Stormtrooper, and that is what is Done.

It isn’t until Jakku that the word starts to take on more meaning than basic fact.

Villagers scream. He’s been trained to ignore that, but the sound digs into his skull anyway. It turns his thoughts upside down, makes him focus on the wrong things. They’re targets; he’s supposed to shoot. But he notices the way they reach for each other instead, how they huddle together and seek comfort.

Had he reached for someone, when they took him? 

He doesn’t remember. They took that, too.

* * *

“Stang.” Their contact rubs at his forehead, surveying the damage that comes with having two Jedi Knights pull your ass out of the fire. The Force giveth, and the Force taketh away. “What black hole of the galaxy did the two of you crawl out of?”

Rey and Finn glance at each other, before they both hold out a hand to their new friend. When they speak, it’s with one voice. “Jakku.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** poe and finn, finn asking poe for girl advice

“So. You’ve dated, right? Girls? Or in general, I guess. I don’t wanna assume.”

Poe spits out a lungful of swamp water and stares at Finn, a little incredulous. “You’re asking this now?”

Finn surveys the landscape. Swamp, swamp, vines. Couple of trees. BB-8. X-wing. More swamp. To say nothing of what can’t be seen. Ever since joining up with the Resistance, exciting and terrifying tales of things that might possibly be hiding in murky liquid have haunted him.

“Yeah,” he decides. “Yeah, I’m asking now.”

Poe shakes his head, but there’s a rueful grin tugging at his mouth. “’Course you are. Come on, help me with the X-wing. I’m starting to think you’re bad luck on fighters, buddy.”

Finn obliges, because it’s pretty easy to be obliging when it comes to Poe. Who would’ve thought that he’d spend a lifetime feeling out of place in the life he’d been moulded for, only to slot right in with the first Resistance fighter he’d come across.

Still–

“You’re gonna answer the question, right?”

A groan. “Yes, Finn. I’ve dated.”

Finn opens his mouth to ask a follow up, and that’s when the tentacles strike.

Probably should’ve expected that, all things considered.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** Could you maybe do a finn x rey first kiss?

It’s never quiet on the  _Falcon_.

Even if Chewbacca isn’t there - and it’s Chewie, he insists, and Rey feels a little dazed that she knows someone well enough to be able to use their nickname - there’s always something. It’s an old ship; it breathes.

“Nothing like flying, huh?” 

She startles, swinging around in the Captain’s chair to catch Finn as he enters the cockpit. He’s the only one who can sneak up on her, these days.

She likes that. It’s nice to be surprised, sometimes.

“You sound like Poe.” A smile tugs at her mouth. She leans forward and grabs his hand on impulse, tugging him towards Chewie’s seat. The Wookiee is planetside, and besides. Rey’s mostly sure she’s learnt how to sweet talk him.

“Hey, man’s got some good ideas.” He glances sidelong at her. “Not as good as mine, obviously, but. You know. Not bad.”

He makes her laugh. He’s so  _easy_  to be around, something that Rey - still not wonderful with more than one or two people at a time, after a life of solitude - appreciates more than she can say.

But then, she doesn’t really need to say it. She catches his gaze when he glances over it again, holds it for a second before ducking her head. The smile lingers at her lips. His gaze lingers on her.

“I guess you’re up to scratch,” she allows.

He huffs, but she can hear the humour behind it. “Oh, up to scratch, me? Hero of the Resistance, but I’m only just scraping by? You ever think your standards might be a little high, Rey?”

It’s a joke, but she chooses not to take it as one. She lifts her head, the curve of her mouth shifting into something softer, steadier. Her hand squeezes his. “Nope.”

He wants to kiss her. She can read it, maybe in the Force, or maybe just on his face. He wants to, but he doesn’t know if he can. Doesn’t know if he’s allowed, if he’s allowed to have the sort of happiness that something like that would bring. So she leans, up and out of the chair, steadying herself with their hands tangled together.

Rey’s not sure if she can, either, but she does it anyway. A soft brush of lips on lips, and she’s ready to drop back and turn away when his arm comes around her waist, solid and safe.

He holds her close. The  _Falcon_  shifts and sighs around them, and she wraps them all to her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Prompt:** finn/poe, jacket

It’s late, and this planet’s one of those that turns chill the second its sun disappears. The wind whips lazily over Poe’s skin, just edging on uncomfortable. He sits on the roof of one of the Resistance buildings, and tugs his knees up to his chest, knotting his arms around them. Closer to the sky.

There are gaps up there that never existed before. Impossible to tell in the dark, with the blur of stars distracting from the dark spaces out there, but he knows. He could reach out a hand and trace the emptiness, if he wanted to. The place where millions of people no longer exist.

A squeak of hinges. Footsteps. Something settles around his shoulders before he finally looks up to see Finn standing there, white breath gusting into the evening air. “You trying to freeze yourself to death?”

“And leave you to BB-8′s mercies?” Poe manages to tug on a smile. Honestly, it’s not that hard around Finn, even with the weight of whole planets dragging at him. “I’m not that cruel.”

“Hey, I’m pretty sure your little droid’s starting to like me.”

“He hasn’t tried to set you on fire lately,” Poe agrees. He blinks down at the jacket. “Didn’t I tell you to keep this?”

“Oh, I’m not giving it back.” A flash of teeth, before a body sprawls next to him. “It looks way better on me than it did on you. This is me being magnanimous.”

It occurs to Poe that he’s not wrong. About the jacket looking good on him.

“If you’re being  _magnanimous,_ then I guess I don’t have a choice.  What about you?”

“What about me?”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, you just gave me your only jacket.” 

There’s a pause. And then a shoulder bumps against his, matched with words that have a different kind of weight. “Guess I’ll have to find a different way of keeping warm.”

It’s half bravado, half terror, which is about on track for how Finn usually does things. Poe could tease - and hey, nothing wrong with a bit of fun - but some things are more important. He reaches out, wraps an arm around Finn’s shoulders. Pulls the other man in, until the meagre warmth he’s generating is between the both of them.

“I can live with that.”


	5. Chapter 5

“He’s gonna be okay, you know.”

Rey glances up as the pilot approaches. Just for a second, her eyes slide back to Finn. Like she’s worried he might disappear on her.

If she is, she doesn’t think anyone could blame her.

“He–” She swallows the rest of the sentence. Optimism is in her nature, but Maz Kanata’s voice lingers in her ears. Some people don’t come back. Her optimism has proven empty before. “I hope so. I really, really hope so.”

Wordlessly, the pilot gestures to a chair nearby. She learnt his name, Rey thinks, but it’s gone now, in one ear and out the other in the haze of the past few days. Next to her, BB-8 whirs a welcome, wheeling his way over to the man to nudge his shin, before hurrying back to Rey’s side.

It takes her a second to realise he’s asking her a question.

“Oh, yeah. Sure.” She tries for a smile, but it feels strained on her lips. Like her mouth has forgotten how to make the motion happen. “I’m sorry, I forgot your name.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He draws the chair over and sits on it backwards, resting his arms on the back of it. “I’m Poe. And you’ve gotta be Rey.”

She flushes. She’s not used to this - the people knowing her name thing. Caring what it is. She’s spent a lifetime as ‘scavenger’. “Didn’t realise I looked so much like my name,” she mumbles. It prompts a laugh.

“I was thinking more, you’ve been at his side pretty much non-stop. I don’t think he’s been away from the First Order long enough to make that impression on more than one girl.”

“I’ve seen you around,” she points out.

Poe’s eyes slide towards the still form of their fallen friend, and some of the easy humour slips from his face. There’s a sadness there that speaks more than words ever could, of loss and sacrifice, of too many pointless deaths. Rey has been alone for so long now, but even she doesn’t know that kind of pain.

“He made an impression on me, too,” he says softly. They let that sit in silence between them. It’s heavy, but Rey doesn’t feel like she can’t handle the weight.

“He’s strong,” she blurts. “He might not know it, but he is. Even when he wants to run away, he doesn’t.” She swallows. “Or at least - he always comes back.”

Her words draw Poe’s face back to her. A moment passes, before his eyes crinkle at the corners again. He nods. “That’s how I know. He’s gonna be fine.”

She doesn’t know this man, not really. But for the first time in days, she feels a flicker of hope.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **prompt:** rey gives finn romantic advice to help him with poe, poe gives finn romantic advice to help him with rey. finn sweats

“You should tell him.”

Finn yelps. It’s a very masculine yelp, obviously, but - Rey has this habit, lately. Of popping up where he least expects it.

“Tell who what?” he asks, when his heart rate comes down.

Rey widens her eyes at him, and jerks her head at Poe. “You were staring. Again.”

“What? No I wasn’t.” He forces a laugh. Poe got a new jacket. It fits him good. Really– “You’re staring.”

“I’m not staring.” 

“Just _tell_  him already. You’re driving me insane!” She flicks his nose gently; he bats at her hand. “It’s not doing wonders for your brain, either.”

It occurs to Finn that she thinks he has feelings for Poe.

It occurs to Finn that she’s not exactly wrong. He scowls down at her. “Didn’t you grow up on a desert planet in the middle of nowhere?”

She gives him a toothy grin. “Didn’t you grow up in a place where literally everyone dressed the same?”

“I don’t see how that makes _you_  any more qualified.”

“Qualified to do what?” A heavy arm drapes around his shoulders, reeling him in. Another hand lifts towards Rey, and performs some strange sort of pilot handshake that he isn’t allowed to know. Rey’s whole face lights up as she and Poe (and it’s Poe, of course it’s Poe, the world doesn’t love Finn enough for it to not be Poe) make explosion sounds out of the corners of their mouths.

It’s so cute, he’s pretty sure he’s going to die. Straight up expire.

“Uh.” He looks to Rey for help, but her gaze has conveniently slid away to some other location. “Stuff?”

Poe raises his eyebrows at her. “You having trouble dealing with the stuff, Rey?”

“Actually, I’m finding the stuff fairly all right. Finn might be having a little trouble, though.”

“I’m fine with the stuff!” he says loudly. Poe’s arm still hasn’t moved. Rey’s face still looks like it could set the world afire with joy. Finn is in monumental amounts of trouble.

“Then I suppose I should leave you to it,” Rey says, nudging him. And before he can say anything at all, she’s off across the base, weaving through people with an almost preternatural sort of grace.

Both Poe and Finn just watch her for a moment. And then it passes, and the pilot is gripping him by the shoulders, looking Very Seriously into his eyes. “Listen,” he says, also Very Seriously. “I think you should tell her.”

Finn groans. Very Loudly.

* * *

It’s much later when he manages to extricate himself from that particular conversation, and he’s pretty sure all the blood in his body has lurched to his head. He just about knocks over General Organa of all people, because that’s the sort of day he’s having.

She squints at him, and he has the disquieting impression that she’s reading his mind.

….She’s not, right?

“Tell ‘em both at the same time,” she advises. “We could use the entertainment around here.”

The fact that he doesn’t die on the spot is, Finn feels, a testament to his strength and perseverance. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For your Rey prompts: Rey going swimming for the first time?

“And you’re sure it’s not for drinking?”

Poe laughs, clapping a hand around her shoulders. “Trust me. If you tried to drink too much of that, you’d regret it almost immediately.”

“So it’s poisonous.”

Consternation flickers briefly across the other pilot’s face, before he catches the glint in her eye. It’s become something of a game between her and Finn. ‘Who can get the Resistance boy closest to crying at the sheer ignorance of his new friends’.

So far, Rey’s winning. Finn has a terrible poker face.

Poe points a finger at her as a smile cracks her own straight expression. “Not nearly as funny as you think it is.”

"Isn’t deciding how funny I think things are my decision?” she counters, nudging his side. “I still think this is a waste of water.”

“Wait til you get in,” he promises. “Just - stay in the shallow end.”

She rolls her eyes heavily at him, because she might never have been swimming before, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know what’s involved. More than one scavenger had drowned in the happabore watering hole after a bad day.

“INCOMING!”

Rey has maybe half a second to establish a) that it’s Finn and b) that he’s not actually in any danger, before his body comes hurtling towards the water from overhead. The resulting splash crashes over both her and Poe; she shrieks before she can stop herself.

“How come you know how to swim?”

He grins up at her, treading water. “Soldier’s gotta be prepared for all terrain. Guess you’ve got a lot of catching up to do here, jedi.”

Rey’s jaw slides into a stubborn angle. “I’ll show you catching up,” she huffs, and grabs the edge of the shirt - Finn’s or Poe’s, she doesn’t remember whose - she was wearing over her new swimsuit, dragging it off over her head. “Prepare for this!”

Poe’s startled _Rey, you still don’t know how to–_ rattles over her head and then she’s throwing herself into the water near Finn, tucking her knees into her chest like she saw him do. A panicked splash a couple of seconds later announces Poe coming in after her, but by that point a spluttering Finn has already grabbed her arm and is holding them both afloat.

“You’re crazy,” Poe gasps, barely audible over the sound of the other two laughing.

The water wraps around Rey’s body, dangerous as it is soothing. She kicks a couple of times, experimentally. It doesn’t seem to work the way it’s supposed to, but she’s not afraid of drowning. She’s not by herself anymore.

“Maybe,” she admits. “But I still want to learn how to do this properly. Are you going to teach me how to do this, or what?”

“I’m considering ‘or what’,” he mutters, before a tidal wave of water from Finn slaps him across the face. “What was that for??”

“Fun,” Finn admits, still grinning. “C’mon, Rey. _I’ll_  teach you, if Poe’s going to be a jerk.”

“You just splashed me in the face! Who’s the jerk now?”

“You’re _both_  jerks if I end up drowning one day because you two were too busy arguing to teach me how to swim.”

“Maybe if you hadn’t jumped into the water before you knew how to do it–”

The bickering continued, threading itself between smiles and shouts of laughter.

It takes them all day, but when they finally pull themselves out of the pool, pruney and exhausted, Rey has at least learnt how to float on her own.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **prompt:** could you write finn, rey and poe getting matching tattoos???

“So. When you say it’s going to hurt, like, on a scale of stubbed toe to lightsaber in the shoulder, how bad are we talking?”

Rey and Poe glance at each other behind Finn’s back. It’s not like either of them have had any work done, although Poe had one too many celebratory drinks one night and had to be talked out of getting the Resistance symbol tattooed across his left butt cheek. By the General.

“Like a four?” Rey hazards.

“Like a four,” Poe agrees, then hesitates. “…Maybe as high as a six.”

“A _six_.” Finn stops in his tracks. “A six is at least a blaster bolt to a non-essential region!”

There is a brief, furious conversation held behind his back again, solely via eye contact and minute hand gestures, mostly consisting of _why did you tell him six??_  and _I wanted to make sure he was prepared!_  and  _how does he have such a specific pain ranking???_

“We don’t have to do it,” Rey says after a beat. Poe nods agreement. “Really, it’s not a big deal.”

Finn looks between them, and they both recognise the moment the Stubborn slides into the set of his jaw. They’ve got that in common, all three of them. “No way. We said we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it.”

They come out of the tattoo a few hours later. It takes everything in Rey’s power to resist picking at the bandage to take a look, just one–

Poe looks a little green around the gills. Finn, meanwhile, is scowling at the both of them.

“What?” Rey asks finally, noticing.

Finn all but explodes. “Come on! That was like a two!”

Rey presses her lips together, biting back a laugh. “Tell that to Poe.”

“Don’t tell me anything right now,” Poe mutters, “I’m pretty sure I’m going to be sick.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: finnrey; finn gets his own lightsaber

So, it turns out Jedi are supposed to make their own lightsaber.

Which, is fine. Honest. Finn might have more experience with destroying things, might be in possession of hands that excel at taking things apart rather than putting them together, but–

He can do this. He can.

“How’s it going?”

Finn spares a glance for his girlfriend, who has just perched herself on the edge of his workbench. His eyes slide to the weapon clipped at her belt. Salvaged from spare parts, and she probably made it with her eyes shut, too.

…He really is dating the coolest girl in the galaxy.

“Fine!” On a different note, his prototype is probably about to explode. “Totally - totally fine.” Maybe he can have a cool metal hand like Luke Skywalker. There are worse fates.

Rey’s own gaze dips towards the mess of parts in front of him and - he can’t help but grin a little at the way she tries to hide a wince.

“Maybe,” he admits, “it’s a little less than fine.”

She opens her mouth, and then shuts it again. He can see her fingers twitch and curl inwards against the urge to just shoulder him out of the way, show him how it’s _done_.

And she could. He asked Luke, who had given him that weird little half smile and said that worse things had gone into a lightsaber than teamwork. Having a piece of Rey in his hands, her expertise and passion, is more than a little bit tempting.

But - but. Finn has never really had anything of his own before. Everything he started out with came from the First Order, and most of the things of importance to him that he’s picked up since then have come from other people. He loves that. He loves carrying pieces of his new family around with him, a reminder that he’s not alone even in the worst of their fight against the First Order.

But there’s equally something special in making something all by himself. A measure of independence that FN-2187 never had. Rey knows that, which is why she’s practically biting her lips off to hold back from pointing out what he’s doing wrong.

Finn leans over, kisses her quick and sweet to wipe the consternation of her face. The smile that quirks against his mouth is the best thing that’s happened all day, at least until her hand curls around the back of his neck, pulling him back for a kiss that’s a little slower, and a little less sweet.

“You’re going to do this,” she decides.

“I’m gonna do this,” he agrees, and then glances over his shoulder at his project. “–okay, but you can tell me if it’s about to explode. I can deal with that.”

“It’s about to explode.”

“Yeah, thought so.”

He grabs her free hand and tugs her away from the work bench, even though she’s already hopping off. The low _boom_ that follows at least confirms that if this Jedi thing doesn’t work out, he’s got a bright future in demolition. 

A quiet giggle escapes from his left, which might just be the cutest thing he ever heard. Rey covers her mouth, but the glee is obvious in her eyes. He pokes her in the side.

“Are you laughing at my agony? Because I’m super torn up right now. That’s my future on fire over there.”

“We just decided you were going to do this!”

“ _On fire_ , Rey.” He glances over at the work table, which is surprisingly still intact. A droid has wheeled itself inside and is getting to work with the extinguisher. “Hey. That was a cracked crystal problem. I can fix that!”

“See?” She leans up, drops a kiss on his cheek. “You were right. Everything’s fine. Mostly.”

He rolls his eyes at the _mostly_  and shoos her out once the fire is mostly gone so he can see what can be salvaged.

Nothing, as it turns out. He’s not surprised.

* * *

He toys briefly with the idea of exhaust ports, but the memory of a lightsaber searing into his shoulder is too fresh. Besides, he wants to do this properly. And, you know, not have allies run in terror every time he turns his weapon on.  It takes a couple of weeks, and six more explosions, but when he holds his breath and thumbs the on-switch (as far away from his face as possible), a _snap-hiss_  fills the air, followed by a low hum and a rosey glow.

No flickering. No threatening to explode - he’s learnt the signs. Just a lightsaber - if a lightsaber could ever be considered _just_  anything.

The sound of his whooping echoes throughout the whole base.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey getting used to human contact / being talked to since she spent so much time alone and in her own thoughts. Could be interacting with Finn or in her training, etc. :)

Rey finds that she actually quite likes holding hands.

The context is important. Back on Jakku, contact could only ever mean something negative. She had learnt how to fend it off, to defend herself from touch. The _concept_  of positive contact was known to her, but not the reality. Finn was lucky things had started to explode the first time he’d taken her hand, because she might have taken his head off otherwise.

Now, though - it’s not the _easiest_  thing in the world to reach out, to twine her fingers through his. But it is enjoyable, once the first thrilling terror of rejection passes (it’s Finn, and she knows he would never, but - some instincts die hard). She tests it on multiple occasions, a tentative reach, the slid of skin on skin, bone and muscle knitting together as their fingers work through the gaps.

She half expects to be shaken off. Then she quarter expects it. Eighth. Until she’s calling his name, breathless and grinning, charging across a room to see him after a month or so on separate missions, throwing her arms around him. He staggers back with an _oof_  and a laugh, and then his arms are around her, holding her tight.

“I missed you,” he announces cheerily, like it’s a good thing.

“I missed you, too.”

It’s a great thing. Rey has spent a life time wondering if she was missed, if there were people out there with a hole in their heart that mirrored the agony in hers.

She doesn’t have to wonder anymore. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ot3: long haul trip on the Falcon

Honestly, Poe’s pretty impressed with himself for not straight up fainting at the sight of the ship.

He’s flown a lot of things in his life, including some that probably never should have made it off the ground, let alone into space. He hadn’t been bluffing when he’d told Finn he could fly anything.

The _Millennium Falcon_ , though? Literally, that’s the stuff of dreams. It might be a ninety-four year old ship held together with hope and a little innovation, but it’s still the _Millennium Falcon._

He doesn’t know what the look on his face is when Rey slides into the Captain’s chair, but it must be something special. Both she and Finn pause, the former biting back a grin, the latter not bothering.

“Did you want to captain?” Rey asks, the humour threading through her voice almost distracting Poe from what she’s saying. Nothing lights up the world like happiness from these too.

“Uh.” Poe rubs the back of his neck. Ace pilot, important figure in the Resistance, absolute nerd. It’s cool. He can admit it. “I mean, only if it’s no trouble.”

Rey scrambles out of the captain’s seat, brushing a quick kiss across his cheek as she switches to the co-pilot’s in the blink of an eye. Poe doesn’t want to say he _fall_  into the captain’s seat, but he sure manages to get in there quickly.

“So I guess this means I get to sit back and do nothing for the trip?” Finn announces, throwing himself into the seat behind the captain’s.

Rey rolls her eyes heavily. “Not now you’ve jinxed it.”

* * *

Something explodes almost immediately. Rey leaves Poe to do the flying stuff, grabbing Finn by the arm and hurling them both out of the cockpit. It’s really more for moral support than anything else - Finn’s been trying his best, but he’s not exactly mechanically minded.

But! He does have opposable thumbs and an impressive amount of flexibility when he puts his mind to it, and they’ve managed to get a system down. Rey asks for things, BB-8 points them out, Finn fetches and hands them to her.

With Poe flying, it’s a weight off her mind. Like a missing piece has slotted into place; she doesn’t have to worry about the autopilot failing, or running into some other disaster that requires fancier flying than it can manage while she’s fixing things. 

…It’s a little more worrying that things go wrong with the _Falcon_  enough that a routine is required, but she supposes you can’t have everything. What she does have is more than enough.

* * *

They sleep in bunks. Finn can’t lie, it’s vaguely reminiscent of the First Order for half a second - but only half a second. Conversation continues long past the time they decide to turn the lights out, slurred with sleep and comfort. His hand falls over the side; underneath him, Poe reaches up to tug at his hand, teasing.

He reorients his wrist without thinking about it. Their fingers fit together like they’re meant to.

“Get a room,” Rey crows, like she hasn’t done exactly the same thing with one or the other of them.

“There’s plenty over here,” Poe says, because he is way, way smoother than either Finn or Rey could ever hope to be. A vaguely choked sound from Rey’s bunk prompts a chuckle from Poe’s but footsteps follow soon after.

There’s not enough room. They make it work anyway.

* * *

Actually, they wake up in a pile on the floor on more than one occasion, and Finn’s back is killing him, but it’s worth it. They’re worth it.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> finnrey: finn attempts poetry

“Hey, so, what rhymes with ‘hair loopies’?”

Poe eyes his friend carefully, taking a moment to figure out whether he’s pulling his leg. “Okay, you’re serious.”

Finn stares back. “Yeah.” It’s said in the tone (and vague rhyme) of _duh_. “It’s poetry. It’s romantic.”

There exists in the world any number of ways to respond to that. Poe presses his lips together very firmly, before nodding, clapping his hand on Finn’s back. “I don’t think anything rhymes with hair loopies, buddy.”

“Really? What about goop–”

“Nope.”

* * *

BB-8, unsurprisingly, is no help at all.

“Wh - come on, why’re you rolling away? You said you’d help!”

At least, Finn’s pretty sure that’s what that series of beeps meant. Learning how to speak droid is a work in progress.

A hatch opens in the droid’s body. The lighter comes out.

Finn’s pretty sure it’s not a thumb’s up.

* * *

“…I’ve just returned from an extended trip on an island, by myself.” Luke Skywalker’s expression is carefully blank, but there’s something about the way his eyes crinkle at the corners. Finn’s pretty sure he’s being laughed at. “I may not be the best person to ask.”

“Come on, man.” Finn’s head thunks back against the wall he’s leaning against. “Don’t you at least have some kind of ancient Jedi saying or something that could help?”

“With dating?”

“Yeah!”

There’s definitely a smile tugging at the old man’s face now. Finn can tell, even as Luke turns his head to look contemplatively at the ceiling.

“Actually, it turns out the old Jedi Order was celibate.”

“You’re a bad man, Luke Skywalker.”

“Consider it a brief history lesson. You’ll learn more as your studies progress.”

* * *

It occurs to Finn, somewhere around the thirteenth draft, that Rey might not even like poetry.

He stares down at his datapad. The datapad, and a blinking cursor, stare back at him. Draft thirteen is actually just a blank page.

“You know what,” he tells it, turning the screen face down on the table. “This is funny. That’s what I’m going with. I’m gonna tell this story one day, and we’re all gonna look back, and we’re gonna laugh. Especially me.”

* * *

“Hey, uh, Rey?”

She looks up at him, and she’s already smiling. He never gets tired of that, the idea that there’s someone in the world who just needs to hear his voice to be pleased. “Hi, what’s up?” 

She grabs a rag hanging off one of BB-8′s arms, wiping the oil off her hands as she stands from whatever mechanical thing she’s been working on lately.

“I was just - I was wondering?”

Rey pauses for a second, like she’s waiting for him to say something else. when he doesn’t, a little furrow forms between her eyebrows, although the smile is still there. “Yes? Wondering what?”

_Come on man, get it together._

“Right. Right.” _Crap_. He doesn’t want to do this, but the alternative to doing it is _not_  doing it, and that’s worse. He rubs the back of his neck, taking a deep breath. “Did - did you want to get dinner, some time?” A beat. “As a date?”

Her lips had already been parting, probably to say yes to dinner. But he follows up with _date_ , and her mouth snaps shut again, and he’s ruined it. He’s so, so sure he’s ruined it, and now it’s going to be awkward and she’s never going to want to speak to him again–

“Yes.”

“Wait, what?”

A brilliant red colour has bloomed across her cheeks - her entire face, actually. It’s adorable. She’s adorable. “I said,” she enunciates clearly. “Yes. I would lo - I would like to go on a date with you, Finn. A lot.”

His own grin threatens to break his face in half. “ _Obviously_  you’d like to go on a date with me.”

They stand there for a good half minute more, smiling like idiots. Somewhere in the background, General Organa elbows her brother. 

He rolls his eyes at her, and hands over a small pile of credits.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> finnrey: stranded on an island populated only by gizka

“This is,” Rey says, slowly scanning the area with eyes that are probably a little too wide, “really unlikely?”

It’s hot. And not the dry, scratchy head she spent fourteen years getting used to. No, this heat is wet. The air feels chewy. She might be whining inside her own head. There are frogs everywhere.

 _Everywhere_. And granted, Rey is not an expert on frogs, but she’s pretty sure they’re the ugliest specimens she’s ever seen in her life.

“Actually, gizka are pretty prolific.” From behind her, Finn’s voice is way too chipper for the situation. “Put a couple of them on an island with no escape, and it only makes sense that they’d overrun it.”

Slowly, Rey turns to face her boyfriend. He’s grinning at her, that look that says he knows he’s being a nerfherder, and that he’s probably doing it to give her a target for her irritation, so she can’t even be that annoyed at him for it, which defeats the purpose in the first place. She shoves him in the shoulder anyway. “How do you _know_ that?”

Finn taps the side of his head. “Stormtrooper. Gizka can really mess with your supplies if you get an infestation. One time, a squad had their shuttle infested and Phasma - you know what? That’s not a happy story. I don’t need to tell that story.”

One of the frogs - gizka, whatever - ribbits, and hops onto her foot. Cautiously, she nudges it off. “I don’t know that this is a happy story for them, either,” she points out. “I think we squished a bunch when we crash landed.” She sniffs the air. “And barbecued a few more.”

Finn twists his mouth in that way that tells her he’s suppressing another grin. Rey can’t help it; her mouth twitches in response, a different kind of warmth entirely filling her chest. He’s contagious like that.

“Well,” he says, “look at it this way. At least we won’t get hungry while you save our butts and put this fighter back together?”

She snorts. “Flattery is not going to get you out of helping, mister.”

“Oh, so it’s mister now?”

“Fetch my toolkit, Finn.”

“You’re a very demanding woman, did you know that?”

“I did. So did you. You like it.”

He steals a quick kiss from her on the way to their supplies, startling a laugh out of her.

“Hey, you won’t find me arguing with that.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okokok f/f prompts, lady Finn? FinnRey?

The spit and hiss of lightsaber on lightsaber is barely audible over the surf breaking on the cliffside, the roar of the wind. The rush of blood in her ears fights to match it, her breath coming in short, rattling gasps, and she’s grinning wide enough to split her face. Her opponent charges her, zig-zagging over the terrain to launch off a convenient rock for extra height.

Finn’s exultant _whoop_ drowns out all the rest as Rey is forced to bring her lightsaber up to defend herself, staggering back under the weight of the other girl’s attack.

“How you like me now!?” Finn crows, and Rey should fight back but she’s too busy laughing to bring her arms up properly, to control the extra drag from her double-sided blade enough to make a good showing of it. She fends her off once, twice, and then Finn’s orange blade sneaks up under her guard and the other girl’s face is right _there_ , half a breath away over their crossed blades.

Rey’s breath catches in her throat. Finn’s smile shifts easily from smug to soft, although she doesn’t back off.

“I guess I don’t mind you that much,” Rey allows. “Are you going to turn that thing off so I can kiss you?”

It almost works. Their gaze is locked, but she can feel the twitch of Finn’s thumb, ready to slide over the switch. And then her eyes narrow, her quiet huff ghosting over Rey’s mouth.

“I’m pretty sure they call that cheating.”

“Well _that_ wouldn’t be very Jedi-like of me.”

Her laugh is like the sun reaching out, warmth caressing her face. And then Finn’s thumbing the lightsaber off, her lips easing over Rey’s in a kiss that ignores all bounds of propriety and the fact that _her_ lightsaber is still flickering between them. Rey’s toes curl as that warmth floods the rest of her, and any thought of victory sweeps away with it.

The humming quits what little air remains between them as her lightsaber follows Finn’s, and then there’s no air at all. Just bodies pressed together, Rey’s hands dragging over Finn’s scalp, Finn’s gripping her hips. The surf roars louder, or maybe that’s the blood in her head.

“Guess I don’t mind if you’re a little unethical,” Finn murmurs, tucking an errant strand of hair behind Rey’s air, fingers lingering over her throat. A shiver works its way out from that point, delicious

“Really? What changed your mind?”

Finn kisses her again. She supposes that’s answer enough.


End file.
